Most operating systems identify a logical unit of mass storage through a “well-known” and system compatible name which defines an actual physical path to the logical unit, i.e., \device0\partition1\. The operating system then associates a user-friendly name, such as a drive letter, with the well-known name so that the data on the storage device can be easily accessible by higher layers of the operating system and user applications. The higher layers of the operating system and applications assume that the well-known names, and thus the associated user-friendly names, are persistent across boot sessions. In actuality, the names are persistent only as long as the physical configuration of the computer does not change. Persistence cannot be guaranteed because such operating systems assign the well-known names in the order in which the storage devices are detected when booting. When the physical locations of the storage devices change, these operating systems will assign the well-known names to different devices. Therefore, the consistency of name assignments across multiple boot sessions is not preserved under all circumstances, and the higher operating system layers and user applications will be unable to access the data on the devices without modification.
Furthermore, most operation systems assume that only the storage devices found during the boot process will be present during the boot session. Thus, new storage devices added after booting cannot be recognized. This limitation also means that a logical device unit will not be recognized if the underlying storage device is removed and then reinserted during a boot session.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a operating system that tracks logical device units during and across boot sessions, and provides persistent names despite physical configuration changes.